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PARKER -- Jennifer Vigil knew that her team needed to do something. Front Range Christian had to get the momentum. But how?

The Lady Falcons, ranked fifth in The Denver Post 2A girls basketball poll, had taken the lead twice, but never seemed to gain any offensive traction in its Top 5 showdown with fourth-ranked Lutheran-Parker. Twice, Front Range Christian had fallen behind by six points with no signs of actually taking the lead for good.

She is petite, standing at a mere 5-foot-1. She is reserved and quiet by nature. And she is humble. But when you see her swim you would never know that she is any of those things.

Njenga, a junior at Dakota Ridge High School, nicknamed “The Albatross” by her coaches for her amazingly long arms and smooth, graceful strokes, didn’t have such a smooth start to her high school swimming career.

It was probably as much Dakota Ridge’s defensive pressure as it was Chatfield’s offense feeding into it. But the teams’ Jan. 12 girls basketball game at Dakota Ridge High School was all Lady Eagles from the get-go.

Behind a balanced-scoring attack and a persistent defense that forced turnover after turnover, host Dakota Ridge ran off a 9-0 spurt in the game’s opening four minutes and led by 19 after one quarter en route to a 63-28 victory over the Lady Chargers.

Charlie Marchese took everything that Chatfield could throw at him for the game’s first 53 minutes. But it was in the 54th minute that the Chargers’ Nate Grush finally cracked through against the Columbine goalie.

His rebound goal off a Kyle Davis shot with 2 minutes, 24 seconds left in overtime helped Chatfield score its second win over rival Columbine this season, 2-1, on Jan. 6 at the Edge Ice Arena.

ARVADA — Going back to work or school after vacation can be really tough both mentally and physically, but the Dakota Ridge girls swimming team proved that it wasn’t bogged down as it won its meet with host Pomona on Jan. 8.

The Lady Eagles won the match 101-75 at Meyers Pool, taking first place in eight out of 12 events. It would have been nine if not for a questionable disqualification of sophomore Kitty Nester in the 100-yard backstroke, thus giving the win to Pomona’s Savannah Millard, who had a time of 1 minute, 12.93 seconds.

To say it’s been a whirlwind year for Zac Robinson would be an understatement. The 24-year-old Chatfield High graduate and former standout quarterback at Oklahoma State has been all over the NFL map in his rookie season.